Essential Knowledge:Capitalism • Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations • Role of market competition and entrepreneurial abilities • Impact on standard of living and the growth of the middle class • Dissatisfaction with poor working conditions and the unequal distribution of wealth in society Socialism and communism • Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto (written with Friedrich Engels) and Das Kapital • Response to the injustices of capitalism • Importance to communists of redistribution of wealth